Abu Hanifa

Abū Ḥanīfa al-Nuʿmān b. Thābit b. Zūṭā b. Marzubān (Arabic: أبو حنيفة نعمان بن ثابت بن زوطا بن مرزبان‎; c. 699 – 767 CE), known as Abū Ḥanīfa for short, or reverently as Imam Abū Ḥanīfa by Sunni Muslims,[5] was an 8th-century Sunni Muslimtheologian and jurist of Persian origin,[6] who became the eponymous founder of the Hanafischool of orthodox Sunni jurisprudence, which has remained the most widely practiced law school in the Sunni tradition.[6] He is often alluded to by the reverential epithets al-Imām al-aʿẓam ("The Great Imam") and Sirāj al-aʾimma ("The Lamp of the Imams") in Sunni Islam.[6][3]

Born to a Muslim family in Kufa,[6] Abu Hanifa is known to have travelled to the Hejazregion of Arabia in his youth, where he studied under the most renowned teachers in Mecca and Medina at the time.[6] As his career as a theologian and jurist progressed, Abu Hanifa became known for favoring the use of reason in his legal rulings (faqīh dhū raʾy) and even in his theology.[6] Abu Hanifa's theological school is what would later develop into the Maturidi school of orthodox Sunni theology.[6]
He is also considered a renowned Islamic scholar and personality by Zaydi Shia Muslims.[7]

His ancestry is generally accepted as being of Persian origin as suggested by the etymology of the names of his grandfather (Zuta) and great-grandfather (Mah). The historian Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi records a statement from Imām Abū Ḥanīfah's grandson, Ismail bin Hammad, who gave Abū Ḥanīfah's lineage as Thabit bin Numan bin Marzban and claiming to be of Persian origin.[3][4] The discrepancy in the names, as given by Ismail of Abū Ḥanīfah's grandfather and great-grandfather, are thought to be due to Zuta's adoption of the Arabic name (Numan) upon his acceptance of Islam and that Mah and Marzban were titles or official designations in Persia, with the latter, meaning a margrave, referring to the noble ancestry of Abū Ḥanīfah's family as the SasanianMarzbans (equivalent of margraves). The widely accepted opinion, however, is that most probably he was of Persian ancestry .[3][4]

Adulthood and death

In 763, al-Mansur, the Abbasid monarch offered Abu Hanifa the post of Chief Judge of the State, but he declined the offer, choosing to remain independent. His student Abu Yusuf was later appointed Qadi Al-Qudat (Chief Judge of the State) by the Caliph Harun al-Rashid.[10]

In his reply to al-Mansur, Abū Ḥanīfah said that he was not fit for the post. Al-Mansur, who had his own ideas and reasons for offering the post, lost his temper and accused Abū Ḥanīfah of lying.

"If I am lying," Abū Ḥanīfah said, "then my statement is doubly correct. How can you appoint a liar to the exalted post of a Chief Qadi (Judge)?"

Incensed by this reply, the ruler had Abū Ḥanīfah arrested, locked in prison and tortured. He was never fed nor cared for.[11] Even there, the jurist continued to teach those who were permitted to come to him.

On the 15 Rajab 150[12] (August 15, 767[13]), Abū Ḥanīfah died in prison. The cause of his death is not clear, as some say that Abū Ḥanīfah issued a legal opinion for bearing arms against Al-Mansur, and the latter had him poisoned.[14] The fellow prisoner and Jewish Karaite founder, Anan Ben David, is said to have received life-saving counsel from the subject.[15] It was said that so many people attended his funeral that the funeral service was repeated six times for more than 50,000 people who had amassed before he was actually buried. On the authority of the historian al-Khatib, it can be said that for full twenty days people went on performing funeral prayer for him. Later, after many years, the Abū Ḥanīfah Mosque was built in the Adhamiyah neighbourhood of Baghdad. Abū Ḥanīfah also supported the cause of Zayd ibn Ali and Ibrahim al Qamar both AlidZaidi Imams.

Sources and methodology

The sources from which Abu Hanifa derived Islamic law, in order of importance and preference, are: the Qur'an, the authentic narrations of the Muslim prophet Muhammad (known as hadith), consensus of the Muslim community (ijma), analogical reasoning (qiyas), juristic discretion (istihsan) and the customs of the local population enacting said law (urf). The development of analogical reason and the scope and boundaries by which it may be used is recognized by the majority of Muslim jurists, but its establishment as a legal tool is the result of the Hanafi school. While it was likely used by some of his teachers, Abu Hanifa is regarded by modern scholarship as the first to formally adopt and institute analogical reason as a part of Islamic law.[18]

As the fourth Caliph, Ali had transferred the Islamic capital to Kufa, and many of the first generation of Muslims had settled there, the Hanafi school of law based many of its rulings on the prophetic tradition as transmitted by those first generation Muslims residing in Iraq. Thus, the Hanafi school came to be known as the Kufan or Iraqi school in earlier times. Ali and Abdullah, son of Masud formed much of the base of the school, as well as other personalities from the direct relatives (or Ahli-ll-Bayṫ) of Moḥammad from whom Abu Hanifa had studied such as Muhammad al-Baqir (thus apparently creating a link between Sunnis and Shias). Many jurists and historians had reportedly lived in Kufa, including one of Abu Hanifa's main teachers, Hammad ibn Abi Sulayman.

Generational status

Abū Ḥanīfah is regarded by some as one of the Tabi‘un, the generation after the Sahaba, who were the companions of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. This is based on reports that he met at least four Sahaba including Anas ibn Malik,[8] with some even reporting that he transmitted Hadith from him and other companions of Muhammad.[19][20] Others take the view that Abū Ḥanīfah only saw around half a dozen companions, possibly at a young age, and did not directly narrate hadith from them.[19]

Abū Ḥanīfah was born 67 years after the death of Muhammad, but during the time of the first generation of Muslims, some of whom lived on until Abū Ḥanīfah's youth. Anas bin Malik, Muhammad's personal attendant, died in 93 AH and another companion, Abul Tufail Amir bin Wathilah, died in 100 AH, when Abū Ḥanīfah was 20 years old. The author of al-Khairat al-Hisan collected information from books of biographies and cited the names of Muslims of the first generation from whom it is reported that the Abu Hanifa had transmitted hadith. He counted them as sixteen, including Anas ibn Malik, Jabir ibn Abd-Allah and Sahl ibn Sa'd.[21]

Reception

Map of the Muslim world. Hanafi (grass green) is the Sunni school predominant in Turkey, the Northern Middle East, many parts of Egypt, Central Asia and most of the Indian subcontinent

Abu Hanifa ranks as one of the greatest jurists of Islamic civilization and one of the major legal philosophers of the entire human community.[22] He attained a very high status in the various fields of sacred knowledge and significantly influenced the development of Muslim theology.[23] During his lifetime he was acknowledged by the people as a jurist of the highest calibre.[24]

Outside of his scholarly achievements Abu Hanifa is popularly known amongst Sunni Muslims as a man of the highest personal qualities: a performer of good works, remarkable for his self-denial, humble spirit, devotion and pious awe of God.[25]

His tomb, surmounted by a dome erected by admirers in 1066 is still a shrine for pilgrims.[22] It was given a restoration in 1535 by Suleiman the Magnificent upon the Ottoman conquest of Baghdad.[17]

The honorific title al-Imam al-A'zam ("the greatest leader") was granted to him[26] both in communities where his legal theory is followed and elsewhere. According to John Esposito, 41% of all Muslims follow the Hanafi school.[27]

Abu Hanifa also had critics. The Zahiri scholar Ibn Hazm quotes Sufyan ibn `Uyaynah: "[T]he aﬀairs of men were in harmony until they were changed by Abù Hanìfa in Kùfa, al-Batti in Basra and Màlik in Medina".[28] Early Muslim jurist Hammad ibn Salamah once related a story about a highway robber who posed as an old man to hide his identity; he then remarked that were the robber still alive he would be a follower of Abu Hanifa.[29]

^ abcdS. H. Nasr (1975), "The religious sciences", in R.N. Frye, The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 4, Cambridge University Press. pg 474: "Abū Ḥanīfah, who is often called the "grand imam"(al-Imam al-'Azam) was Persian

^ abcCyril Glasse, "The New Encyclopedia of Islam", Published by Rowman & Littlefield, 2008. pg 23: "Abu Hanifah, a Persian, was one of the great jurists of Islam and one of the historic Sunni Mujtahids"

ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Mubārak (118/726-797 AH/CE; Arabic: عبد الله بن المبارك) was born during the reign of Hisham ibn Abd al-Malik. ‘Abdullah ibn Mubarak was an early, pious Muslim known for his memory and zeal for knowledge, collected hadīth (muhaddith), and was remembered for his asceticism. He earned the title Amir al-Mu'minin fi al-Hadith. His father, named Mubarak, was Turkmanish from Khurasan and became a client (mawālī) of an Arab trader from the tribe of Banī Hanẓala in the city of Hamadhān, and his mother was said to have been from Khwārizm. Mubarak later married Hind, the trader's daughter. It is said that ‘Abdullah ibn Mubarak left his hometown of Merv, and while living in Hamadhān, went on to visit and speak often in Baghdād. Imam Ahmad said about Abdullah ibn Mubarak that there was no one more eager to travel for seeking knowledge than him. His teachers included Sufyān al-Thawrī and Abū Hanīfa. He wrote Kitāb al-Jihād, a collection of hadīth and sayings of the early Muslims on war, and Kitāb al-Zuhd wa al-Rāqa’iq, a book on asceticism. He was also known for defending Islamic borders (see Ribat) on the frontiers of Tarsus and al-Massisah, and later died at Hīt, near the Euphrates, in the year 797 CE.

Ābu Ḥanīfah Āḥmad ibn Dawūd Dīnawarī (815–896 CE, Arabic: أبو حنيفة الدينوري‎) was an Islamic Golden Age polymath, astronomer, agriculturist, botanist, metallurgist, geographer, mathematician, and historian. He was born in the region of Dinawar, in Kermanshah in modern-day western Iran. He studied astronomy, mathematics and mechanics in Isfahan and philology and poetry in Kufa and Basra. He died in Dinawar. His most renowned contribution is Book of Plants, for which he is considered the founder of Arabic botany.There is no consensus regarding his ethnic background among scholars. Ludwig Adamec considers him to be of Kurdish descent, while Encyclopedia of Islam classifies him as an Arab philologist and scientist of Iranian origin however, Encyclopaedia Iranica and Claude Cahen list him as Persian. The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity states that Dinawari was Iranian.

It is built around the tomb of Abu Hanifah an-Nu'man, the founder of the Hanafi madhhab or school of Islamic religious jurisprudence. It is in the al-Adhamiyah district of northern Baghdad, which is named after Abu Hanifa's reverential epithet Al-imām al-aʿẓam ("The Great Leader").

Yaqub ibn Ibrahim al-Ansari, better known as Abu Yusuf (Arabic: أبو يوسف‎) (d.798) was a student of jurist Abu Hanifah (d.767) who helped spread the influence of the Hanafi school of Islamic law through his writings and the government positions he held.

He served as the chief judge (qadi al-qudat) during reign of Harun al-Rashid. His most famous work was Kitab al-Kharaj, a treatise on taxation and fiscal problems of the state.

Al-Adhamiyah (Arabic: الأعظمية‎, al-aʿẓamiyyah; BGN: Al A‘z̧amīyah), also Azamiya, is a neighborhood and east-central district of the city of Baghdad, Iraq. It is one of nine administrative districts in Baghdad.

Adhamiyah is located north-west of the city center and is an upscale area. It has 100,000 inhabitants. This area was 85% Sunni, 15% Shi'ite before 2003 and the Iraqi invasion. Now, it serves as one of the few points of refugee for the Sunni minority of Baghdad, and nearly totally Sunni in its religious composition.

The base of the population consists of people with a high intellectual background, whether it be politicians, artists, scholars and even sports figures. The name is a reference to Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān, known as al-Imām al-Aʿẓam (Arabic: الإِمَـام الأَعـظَـم‎, "The Great Imam"), a renowned scholar and founder of the prominent Sunni Hanafī school of Islamic religious jurisprudence. Abu Hanifa Mosque is a prominent landmark, built around the tomb of Abū Ḥanīfah an-Nuʿmān.

Abu Hanifa al-Nu‘man ibn Muhammad ibn Mansur ibn Ahmad ibn Hayyun al-Tamimi, generally known as al-Qāḍī al-Nu‘mān also Qāżi Noʿmān (died 974 CE/ 363 AH) was an Isma'ili jurist and the official historian of the Fatimid caliphs. He was also called Qadi Quddat and Da'i Duat.

Alqama ibn Qays al-Nakha'i (d. AH 62 (681/682)) was a well-known scholar from among the taba'een and pupil of Abd-Allah ibn Mas'ud, who called him the most erudite of his disciples. He also related traditions from Ali ibn Abi Talib, Sa`d ibn Abi Waqqas [Sa`d ibn Malik] and `Uthman.Alqama is the founder of the School of Kufa in Islamic religious sciences. He followed in the footsteps of Ibn Mas‘ud in praying and conduct, in practising Islam as a whole. Amr ibn Sharahil al-Shabi, who was among the scholars who narrated ahadith from Alqama, frequently suggested to those near him: ‘Come and let us go to the one who resembles Ibn Mas‘ud the most in conduct and attitudes.’ His major student was Ibrahim al-Nakhai, a faqih from Kufa

Imam Abu Hanifa, who is generally accepted as one of the greatest of Muslim jurists, admired Alqama so much that he used to comment: ‘Alqama is probably more profound in (knowledge) of hadith and fiqh than some Companions.’

Asad ibn al-Furat (Arabic: أسد بن الفرات‎; 759-828) was a jurist and theologian in Ifriqiya, who began the Muslim conquest of Sicily.

His family, originally from Harran in Mesopotamia, emigrated with him to Ifriqiya. Asad studied in Medina with Malik ibn Anas, the founder of the Malikite school, and in Kufa with a disciple of Abu Hanifa, the founder of the Hanafite tradition. He collected his views on religious law in the Asadiyya, which had great influence in Ifriqiya.

After his return to Ifriqiya he became a judge in Kairouan, where he soon came into conflict with the Aghlabid Emir Ziyadat Allah I (817-838) after criticising his luxurious and impious lifestyle. In order to get rid of this unwelcome critic, Ziyadat appointed Asad the leader of an expedition to Byzantine Sicily. In 827 Asad landed with a force of Arabs in Sicily and following a defeat of Byzantine troops proceeded to besiege Syracuse. However, the city could not be taken and Asad soon died of plague.

Asmatullah Rohani is son of a prominent judge Hamdullah and he comes from Yousufzia tribe in eastern Kunar Province. His entire family is known as an intellectual family in eastern Kunar province because his father and his uncles were well educated and they have served as judges in several different provinces of Afghanistan. His family comes originally from Pashat district in Kunar province. However, later his immediate family settled in Tanar district of Kunar province. Asmatullah Rohani was born on August 3, 1937 in city of Balkh when his father was a judge in Northern Mazar-e Sharif province, Afghanistan. He passed away peacefully in Guelph on September 24, 2017.

He completed his primary education at Shiah Koat Ahdad primary school in Nangarhar province and later in 1950 he was admitted to Madrassah Imam Abu Hanifa in Kabul. Asmatullah Rohani graduated from Madrassah Imam Abu Hanifa in 1957 and then went on and got his BA in 1961 from faculty of Islamic law at Kabul University. In 1972 he went to Australia on a scholarship for his higher education in international law and later in 1976 he went to Japan for further studies in International law.

Dinawar (Persian: دینور‎) was a major city in the 8th-11th centuries, located to the northeast of Kermanshah in western Iran. The ruins of the city is now located in Dinavar District, in Sahneh County, Kermanshah Province.

In the early Islamic times, it was called Mah al-Kufa, the element Mah probably originating from the fact that in the Seleucid period, the city was located in the heartland of Media. Dinawar historically has produced many scholars including Ebn Qotayba, Fakhr-un-Nisa, and Abu Hanifa Dinawari. Dinawar was also the center of the Kurdish principality of the Hasanwayhids. It was sacked by Mardavij in 931. According to Ibn Athir it was plundered by Oghuz Turkmens of the Iva tribe in around 568/1172-73. According to Hamdollah Mostowfi, it was a small town in the 14th century. But it was devastated again by Timur. Today only field of ruins are available.

The Hanafi (Arabic: حنفي‎ Ḥanafī) school is one of the four religious Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence (fiqh). It is named after the scholar Abū Ḥanīfa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit (d. 767), a tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani. The other major schools of Sharia in Sunni Islam are Maliki, Shafi`i and Hanbali.Hanafi is the fiqh with the largest number of followers among Sunni Muslims. It is predominant in the countries that were once part of the historic Ottoman Empire, Mughal Empire and Sultanates of Turkic rulers in the Indian subcontinent, northwest China and Central Asia. In the modern era, Hanafi is prevalent in the following regions: Turkey, the Balkans, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Egypt, parts of Iraq, parts of Iran, parts of Russia, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, parts of India and China, and Bangladesh.

Mawlā (Arabic: مَوْلَى‎), plural mawālī (مَوَالِي), is a polysemous Arabic word, whose meaning varied in different periods and contexts. In the Quran and hadith it is used in two senses: Lord; and guardian, trustee, helper. In the pre-Islamic era the term originally applied to any form of tribal association. During the early Islamic era, this institution was adapted to incorporate new converts to Islam into the Arab-Muslim society and the word mawali gained currency as an appellation for non-Arab Muslims.

Chakari was born in Chakari, Kabul Province, Afghanistan. He studied at the Madrasa E Abu Hanifa until grade 12 and travelled to Saudi Arabia for further and higher education. He completed a masters degree (MA) and was a successful graduate of Islamic Studies.

When he returned to his country, he joined the mujahideen and was a leader of the fight against the Soviet invasion. After 14 years of jihad Chakari was given a place in the Afghan cabinet as information minister.

He also wrote and translated his book, Lizat-E-Eman, Sifat-E-Qumandaan, and Moral-e-mujahid in Persian and Arabic.

Abu 'Abdullah Muḥammad ibnu-l-Ḥasan Ibn Farqad ash-Shaybānī (Arabic: محمد بن الحسن الشيباني‎; 749/50 – 805), the father of Muslim international law, was an Islamic jurist and a disciple of Abu Hanifa (later being the eponym of the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence), Malik ibn Anas and Abu Yusuf.

Principles of Islamic jurisprudence otherwise known as Uṣūl al-fiqh (Arabic: أصول الفقه‎) is the study and critical analysis of the origins, sources, and principles upon which Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) is based.

Traditionally four main sources (Qur’an, Sunnah, consensus (Ijma), analogical reason (Qiyas)) are analysed along with a number of secondary sources and principles.

The main subject areas of discussion are these:

General evidences and principles (adillah ijmalliya wa al-qawaid)

Resolution of conflict and discrepancy (ta'deel wa tarjeeh)

Determination of rules and adoption/emulation of rules (ijtihad wa taqlid)

In Islamic jurisprudence, qiyās (Arabic: قياس‎) is the process of deductive analogy in which the teachings of the Hadith are compared and contrasted with those of the Qur'an, in order to apply a known injunction (nass) to a new circumstance and create a new injunction. Here the ruling of the Sunnah and the Qur'an may be used as a means to solve or provide a response to a new problem that may arise. This, however, is only the case providing that the set precedent or paradigm and the new problem that has come about will share operative causes (عِلّة, ʿillah). The ʿillah is the specific set of circumstances that trigger a certain law into action. An example of the use of qiyās is the case of the ban on selling or buying of goods after the last call for Friday prayers until the end of the prayer stated in the Quran 62:9. By analogy this prohibition is extended to other transactions and activities such as agricultural work and administration.

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